Russian president damns western support that has allowed Ukraine to hold out and asks for talks with Gerhard Schröder in remarks after diminished Victory Day parade

Vladimir Putin has said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down – remarks that came a few hours after he had vowed to defeat Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years.

“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since the second world war. He said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

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• Dubois recovers from knockdown in opening seconds

• Wardley knocks him down again but stopped in 11th

Daniel Dubois completed his latest resurgence with brutal efficiency when he became the WBO world heavyweight champion after stopping Fabio Wardley early in the 11th round of a dramatic and blood-soaked contest. Howard Foster, whose pale blue shirt had turned crimson as if he worked in an abattoir rather than in a boxing ring as a referee, jumped between the courageous fighters to rescue Wardley 28 seconds into the penultimate round.

It was a merciful stoppage because the fallen champion, with his face a mask of blood pouring from his badly cut and broken nose, had been examined twice before by the ringside doctor. Both fighters emerged with enormous credit after an epic battle. Dubois was knocked down twice in the fight, and dropped for the first time 10 seconds after the opening bell, but he came back with commendable resolve. He also proved he was the superior technician as, working behind his thunderous jab, Dubois sank one brutal blow after another into the steadily sagging figure of Wardley. But the 31-year-old from Ipswich, who suffered the first loss of his career, simply refused to surrender or even go down at any point during this riveting battle.

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To upgrade its grid for data centers, PJM Interconnection (which serves 13 states) plans to spend $22 billion — and charge nearly $2 billion of that to customers in Maryland, argues Maryland's Office of People's Counsel. The money "will be recovered in rates for decades" and "drive up Maryland customer bills by $1.6 billion over the next ten years alone," they said Friday, announcing an official complaint filed with America's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.



Extra demand is expected from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois "where demands driven by data centers are projected to grow substantially by 2036," they explain. But that means that Maryland customers "are subsidizing data center-driven transmission buildout by virtue of geographic proximity..." Tom's Hardware explains:

That means an extra $823 million for residential (approx. $345 per customer), $146 million for commercial (approx. $673 per customer), and $629 million for industrial customers (approx. $15,074 per customer)... "Maryland customers have neither caused the need for these billions in new transmission projects nor will they meaningfully benefit from them," [according to Maryland People's Counsel David S. Lapp]....

This is one of the biggest reasons why many AI hyperscalers are facing pushback from the communities where they intend to place their data centers. At the moment, around 69 jurisdictions have passed some sort of moratorium on projects like these, and a survey has shown that nearly half of Americans do not want a data center in their neighborhood. Debates around these projects are passionate, with a few cases turning violent and even resulting in shootings (thankfully, without any casualties), especially as many feel that the construction of these power-hungry assets is threatening their lifestyles and quality of life.


Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader noshellswill for sharing the news.

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NASA's $500 million Neil Gehrels Swift space observatory was launched in 2004. But it's now "at risk of falling back through the atmosphere and burning up without intervention," reports Spaceflight Now.

Fortunately, a mission to prevent that "just passed a notable prelaunch testing milestone."
On Friday, NASA announced that the Link spacecraft, manufactured by Katalyst Space Technologies to intervene before Swift's fate is sealed, completed its slate of environmental testing at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland... "Swift will likely re-enter the atmosphere sometime later this year if we don't attempt to lift it to a higher altitude, [said John Van Eepoel, Swift's mission director at NASA Goddard, in a NASA press release]. "Katalyst has gotten to this point in just eight months, and we're glad they were able to use NASA's facilities to test Link and draw on our expertise to help tackle questions that popped up along the way...."
"Given how quickly Swift's orbit is decaying, we are in a race against the clock, but by leveraging commercial technologies that are already in development, we are meeting this challenge head-on," said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters, at the time... Attempting an orbit boost is both more affordable than replacing Swift's capabilities with a new mission, and beneficial to the nation — expanding the use of satellite servicing to a new and broader class of spacecraft...."

Swift is in an orbit inclined 20.6 degrees from the equator, which is why Katalyst selected Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL air-launched rocket in November to fly the mission. "The versatility offered by Pegasus' unique air-launch capability provides customers with a space launch solution that can be rapidly deployed anywhere on Earth to reach any orbit," said Kurt Eberly, Director of Space Launch for Northrop Grumman.



The mission is set to launch in June.

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TORONTO (ANP/DPA) - Duitsland en Canada hebben zaterdag besproken hoe ze de samenwerking kunnen verdiepen. Dat zei de Duitse minister van Financiën Lars Klingbeil tijdens een conferentie in de Canadese stad Toronto.

Volgens hem kan de samenwerking worden versterkt op het gebied van kunstmatige intelligentie, energie, kritische grondstoffen en defensie.

Ook wil Duitsland graag dat Canada in Duitsland gebouwde onderzeeërs koopt. Dat heeft Klingbeil nogmaals bij de Canadezen onder de aandacht gebracht. Duitsland wil graag dat Canada zich aansluit bij een Duits-Noors partnerschap voor onderzeeërs.

WASHINGTON (ANP/AFP) - De Amerikaanse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Marco Rubio en gezant Steve Witkoff hebben de Qatarese premier Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani zaterdag in Miami gesproken over Iran. Dat meldt het Amerikaanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, nadat eerder de nieuwssite Axios al over de ontmoeting had bericht.

Qatar speelt een sleutelrol in de onderhandelingen tussen de Verenigde Staten en Iran om de oorlog te beëindigen. Pakistan is de officiële bemiddelaar, maar Qatar heeft achter de schermen een belangrijke rol gespeeld.

Tijdens de ontmoeting is ook gesproken over Amerikaanse steun aan de Qatarese strijdkrachten en het belang om stabiliteit en veiligheid in het Midden-Oosten te vergroten, aldus het Amerikaanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken.

Samen met Israël vielen de Verenigde Staten Iran eind februari aan. Iran reageerde onder andere met de blokkade van de Straat van Hormuz. De VS willen nu een vredesakkoord sluiten en de zeestraat heropenen.

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

I was just blown away by this bit of tree and it turned into an even better photo than I expected. Could not see the eye of the bird with the naked eye.

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

From the South shore of Lake Ashi, Mount Fuji and Heiwa-no-Torii shrine gate can be seen on clear days.